An Email from NOAA Recreational Fisheries Coordinator

[YakDout]

Originally Posted by chris138

So do nothing? What are you proposing? Or are you part of the "not in my lifetime" camp? No one is stopping you from catching as much bluefin as you want, you just have to release them after you get two. Is that really such a huge sacrifice for you? If you kept more than two decent sized BF, I'd bet $100 it would just sit in your freezer for six months and be catfood grade by the time you got around to eating it anyway!



Look I'm not trying to make enemies or piss people off. I just don't get why a bunch redneck kayak fishermen (myself included here) think they know more than scientists who have devoted their entire lives to understanding marine ecology and climate. The folks at fisheries aren't eco-nazis... Many of them are avid anglers themselves. Just recently I had dinner with a former director of fisheries. This person was so excited and stoked to see pictures and hear stories of fish that I had caught. They love the ocean and want to make it accessible to all of us, especially our future generations. Who do you think will be able to limit the evil commercial fisherman anyway? A bunch of disgruntled kayakers?

I do agree with you that a couple kayak fisherman will not sway any commercial fisherman from doing what they do. And I'm definitely not one who thinks I'm living in my lifetime so screw younger generations. After all, I will have kids, grandkids, and so forth and would want them all to have every experience that I had and maybe better. I also agree that catching that much bluefin tuna for one person may eventually lead to some waste. I've come back from 3 day charters looking at my phone and waiting for that service to come in so I can make calls and dump some fresh fish with family and friends. Actually, I enjoy giving this fish away more than I do eating it myself. And I love seafood. The point that I was trying to make is that even while limiting recreational fisherman, the commercial guys will still be doing their jobs. Not saying that anyone can do one thing about the fishing that takes place in international waters, but I just don't feel that I personally take a whole lot out of BFT fishery.